An Entire Shipyard
Ariel view of Williamstown Naval Dockyard showing much of the RAN’s Frigate force of the
Period
From the Sydney Morning Herald’s Commercial Property Section. 21st June 2024
by Nicole Lindsay
Williamstown’s shipyard, the last of its kind in Victoria, is for sale eight years after the last vessel plunged down the slipway and ship-building ceased at the 16.81-hectare site.
The vacant yard with gantries, workshops and warehouses at 2-10 Nelson Place has a price tag that could hit $200 million.
Set between the Williamstown Marina and the Mobil refinery’s fuel tanks, it is just three kilometres from the Port of Melbourne, the country’s biggest container port.
Williamstown, a seaside village in Melbourne’s west with a historic waterfront and city views, is a highly desirable residential location. AV Jennings has built apartments across the road from the shipyard, but the site is likely to remain industrial for the foreseeable future.
British military hardware and technology giant BAE Systems has owned the yard since 2008, after it bought Sydney-based infrastructure company Tenix for $775 million.
The entire shipyard could fetch as much as $200 million depending on the configuration of the sale. The site, comprising three pieces of land, is being offered to buyers with two options.
The first option – a 9.9-hectare lot with two jetties and a host of buildings, and a 1.9-hectare car park on Battery Road – could sell for between $80 million and $100 million.
However, if the deal includes an adjoining 5-hectare parcel with 10 workshops and offices, it could reach that $200 million price point.
BAE Systems is considering either leasing or retaining the 5-hectare freehold. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The Williamstown shipyard dates back to the 19th century and includes the heritage-listed Alfred Graving Dock built by Victoria’s government between 1864 and 1873 at a cost of more than £300,000. The dock, which enabled ship repairs, was the biggest infrastructure project undertaken by the government at the time and was of international importance, according to local and naval history sources.
The site was also the original location of the Victorian Navy, which predated the Federation in 1901. Shipbuilding started in 1913 and was taken over by the Commonwealth during World War 1.
Known as HM Naval Dockyard, it remained under the control of the Federal government until Transfield – later known as Tenix – acquired the site in 1987.
Victoria’s historic role in the nation’s shipbuilding industry eroded over the last decade before finally ending in 2017 when the Turnbull government ploughed money into shipyards in Adelaide and Perth. Under the AUKUS program, any new submarines built in Australia will be built in Adelaide.
Circa 1969: An overview of Williamstown Naval Dockyard with frigates
The Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network comments
MMHN fears the worst - once again.
Who knows what will become of this unique maritime infrastructure precinct? Will the cash-strapped State government have the vision or the capacity to somehow ensure that this significant maritime heritage precinct is not lost to the public. Williamstown ship yard, is the last of its kind in Victoria. BAE Systems, is selling the precinct 8 years after the last ship, HMAS CANBERRA went down the slipway. Given that the federal shipbuilding business is being directed interstate, it is not surprising that BAE cannot hold on to large maritime infrastructure assets. The sad trajectory for the Williamtown Shipyards was set in train in 2017 when the Federal Coalition government of the day, adopted a political approach rather than sound policy to sustaining a maritime capability for our island nation. Williamstown is part of the electorate of Gellibrand, a longtime safe Labor party seat that reflects its social and economic history built around the dockyards. Apart from the physical infrastructure, BAE had developed a highly trained local workforce during the hi-tech fit-out of HMAS CANBERRA. The ABC reported (16/5/2017) that the Williamstown shipyard been
“left on the brink of closure having been being snubbed in the Federal Government's new naval shipbuilding plan. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has today released Australia's largest shipbuilding and sustainment program, including more than $1 billion worth of infrastructure upgrades at the Osborne shipyards in SA and at the Henderson shipyards in WA. Noting that “The plan acknowledges South Australia will struggle to provide the thousands of skilled workers needed for the massive expansion of the Navy's fleet, with foreign workers and interstate talent needed to meet” .
MMHN has consistently castigated the Federal government for its lack of strategic vision in relation to maritime skills, shipbuilding, wharves and registered ships. There’s also a blindness about the heritage value to Victoria of the Alfred Graving Dock, built when the state had its own navy to maintain. HMVS CERBERUS (Victorian Ship) was a celebrated armoured defender of Spring Street and is now lying as a breakwater at Black Rock. Such a political policy approach to investment in maritime capability in our island nation is obviously a serious concern.
Railway Pier Williamstown 1883- State Library of Victoria
HMVS CERBERUS in Alfred Graving Dock 1874. State Library of Victoria.
A Map of Williamstown Naval Base in 1986